Slamming my locker shut, I raised my eyebrow at Krista who had been leaning against the locker next to me. She had been staring at me for a few minutes while I swapped what was in my backpack. Her eyes narrowed and she leaned in. I was tempted to knock my forehead into hers but held off.
“You seem…different.”
“Different? You mean healed?” I chortled.
Krista shook her head. “No. Dumbass. Just different. Like…you’re holding yourself different.”
Shrugging, I glared down the hallway at Rebecca. She was walking down the hallway but she looked different. Her makeup was heavier than normal. Not that she was going for a dark smokey eye but she was definitely covering up some dark circles.
She was ignoring everything around her as she walked down the hallway, which was incredible to witness. Her eyes caught mine and she sneered but passed me without even an insult. Blinking, I watched her leave before I turned back to Krista.
“I mean…trainin
We continued to joke around until we made it into the city. It was far more crowded than any place in pack but it was a nice change. Sometimes, it was nice to get lost in a sea of humans. Krista continued to drive through the main downtown before reaching the mall that we preferred. It wasn’t the high end one in town but it was the biggest one.There was a restaurant across the street from the mall that we decided to stop and have brunch. I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese hash brown bowl whereas Krista got a whole breakfast platter. We ate talking about the plans we had for All Hallows Eve. There was going to be a whole pack festival but that usually ended before the parties started.Killing about an hour, we made our way into the mall. It was more lively at eleven than it seemed like had been was right when they opened. We made a circuit around the place, walking off our food, before we dove into shopping. I had a bank account in my name that received a deposit
Embarrassment flooded through me. This was not the conversation I wanted to have with the person we were talking about. Krista didn’t seem to mind at all. She nodded, like it was fine we were talking about mates with our Gamma.“Do you know why she is feeling the way she is?”Gamma Maddox shook his head. “It could be a leadership thing. It could be her mate. Who knows. We won’t know until it stops.”“But you’re not…” I started, my face still red as a tomato.“No, Winter. I’m not.”He narrowed his eyes for a moment before I saw his demeanor change. Krista saw it too. She sat up straighter, pulling her leg in closer. I also perked up a little more. Gamma Maddox was our leadership. Usually, he was silly and goofy. The look on his face right now was serious. Serious Gamma was a rare occurrence and one that you listened to no matter what.“I had a mate. Back when
“You okay?”Gamma Maddox stood next to me while we waited for Krista to try on clothes. After the bomb that was dropped, we all sat in silence for a while until Krista decided that she needed more clothes. So, we followed her whim. He was now holding three bags of his own purchases, I had another bag from the doom, gloom, and sex store as Krista differentiated.“I mean, I thought Caleb dumped a lot on me last night. I knew some of it, but there were just small pieces that now fit. Then…you…” I sighed. “I feel like sometimes I’m being pulled every which way. My mother’s family was leadership. Her friends were leadership. Her boyfriend apparently was leadership. Caleb was leadership. His family leadership. It makes sense that I would also be tangled up in the leadership but this is just…a lot…”He shrugged, his usual self shinning through a little more as we shopped. “You were always
“What were you thinking? Did you think that any part of that decision was smart?”Krista and I were standing in Alpha Damian’s office. Krista’s mom was the one who was standing in front of us. Both our heads were bowed against her anger. Gamma Maddox was nowhere to be seen after he made sure we got to the pack house.“You left school. Not telling anyone where you went. We get a message that you went off territory. We call you. You don’t answer. Then you text your dad that you’re going shopping? That’s it. No information about where you are going. Not how long you would be. Nothing.”Mrs. St James threw up her hands and paced, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I am dealing with people breaking into my home and you two decide to leave without any protection. Without anyone knowing where you were. What did you think would happen? What if those people was waiting
*** Caspian’s POV ***“I’m going to lock up, anything you need?”I looked up from the table I had been leaning over for the past few hours. “No, thank you though. I’m good. I’ll probably put in another couple of hours and head home for the weekend.”Carrie smiled and nodded. “Don’t stay too late. You’re too young to become a fossil in here.”“Yes, ma’am.”She gave me a quick wave before closing the large double doors. It was well past closing at the museum but I decided to help with the backlog of work. Really, it was something I could do that would take up my entire thought. Something for my hands to do. Sitting here doing work was better than sitting in my flat alone.I’d been working on this particularly lengthy scroll since Wednesday. It was rare for me to be working on one for thi
Flinging the covers off myself, I jolted up un bed. I was drenched in sweat and I grabbed the front of my shirt. Gasping for breath, I was inhaling but no air was coming in. Tears prickled as I coughed trying to somehow clear my airways. Squeezing my eyes shut, I leaned forward and curled up over the blankets.Almost as suddenly as my breath was stolen away from me, a single gasped filled my lungs with the air that I desperately needed. It hurt, my head pounding and my chest liftings but at least I could breathe. At first it was the smallest of breaths, my full inhale hitching. Making me inhale faster to try and get more oxygen.‘Slow down, Caspian. Slow breaths. Deep. You’re panicking.’I wanted to scoff at Onan but sat up, letting out a long breath before I pulled one in slowly. It still wasn’t quite full but it was better. Through my nose, out my mouth, I tried to let my panic ebb away. My chest was still hurting but not nearl
“I don’t think being a brat is worse than an asshole.”Onan let me feel the full brunt of his irritation. ‘No. The fact that you’re being a child and running away makes it worse. You ran with your tail between your legs like you did when you left Blue Crescent.’“That wasn’t…I wasn’t running! I didn’t run that time and you know it!”He snorted. ‘So you admit you are now.’“Goddess…damn you, wolf.”Getting up from my lean, I grabbed the container of food from the fridge and took off the plastic lid. I opened the oven and placed it directly on the rack before setting the timer for fifteen minutes. It didn’t take me long to make some tea and I sipped it, looking out the window. The wind had picked up but there still wasn’t any snow.“So what if I’m running away. Is that really so bad?”
This was fine.This was okay.He wasn’t even really mad today.Nothing had forced him over the edge today.Today wouldn’t be bad.I could deal with this.I closed my eyes tighter as his boot pressed into my back. He leaned over and flicked ash from his cigarette on me. Dad never smoked in the house. Hannah hated when he smoked. She refused to let him in the house if he smelled like it. So he had other ways of getting his vice.“How did I get stuck with you? You useless wolf. I’m so glad that I had the forethought to bring Hannah into the mix.” His boot lifted off but connected with my side. “You really are the most useless thing. You were supposed to be a ‘great miracle’ that your mother begged me to take care of.”Curling up into a ball, I reached up and held onto the only thing left of my mother’s. Her locket never left my neck. It was the one thing that survived. Outside of me. I survived. All I did was survive.My muscles tightened as the cigarette butt burned into my skin under my
“I don’t think being a brat is worse than an asshole.”Onan let me feel the full brunt of his irritation. ‘No. The fact that you’re being a child and running away makes it worse. You ran with your tail between your legs like you did when you left Blue Crescent.’“That wasn’t…I wasn’t running! I didn’t run that time and you know it!”He snorted. ‘So you admit you are now.’“Goddess…damn you, wolf.”Getting up from my lean, I grabbed the container of food from the fridge and took off the plastic lid. I opened the oven and placed it directly on the rack before setting the timer for fifteen minutes. It didn’t take me long to make some tea and I sipped it, looking out the window. The wind had picked up but there still wasn’t any snow.“So what if I’m running away. Is that really so bad?”
Flinging the covers off myself, I jolted up un bed. I was drenched in sweat and I grabbed the front of my shirt. Gasping for breath, I was inhaling but no air was coming in. Tears prickled as I coughed trying to somehow clear my airways. Squeezing my eyes shut, I leaned forward and curled up over the blankets.Almost as suddenly as my breath was stolen away from me, a single gasped filled my lungs with the air that I desperately needed. It hurt, my head pounding and my chest liftings but at least I could breathe. At first it was the smallest of breaths, my full inhale hitching. Making me inhale faster to try and get more oxygen.‘Slow down, Caspian. Slow breaths. Deep. You’re panicking.’I wanted to scoff at Onan but sat up, letting out a long breath before I pulled one in slowly. It still wasn’t quite full but it was better. Through my nose, out my mouth, I tried to let my panic ebb away. My chest was still hurting but not nearl
*** Caspian’s POV ***“I’m going to lock up, anything you need?”I looked up from the table I had been leaning over for the past few hours. “No, thank you though. I’m good. I’ll probably put in another couple of hours and head home for the weekend.”Carrie smiled and nodded. “Don’t stay too late. You’re too young to become a fossil in here.”“Yes, ma’am.”She gave me a quick wave before closing the large double doors. It was well past closing at the museum but I decided to help with the backlog of work. Really, it was something I could do that would take up my entire thought. Something for my hands to do. Sitting here doing work was better than sitting in my flat alone.I’d been working on this particularly lengthy scroll since Wednesday. It was rare for me to be working on one for thi
“What were you thinking? Did you think that any part of that decision was smart?”Krista and I were standing in Alpha Damian’s office. Krista’s mom was the one who was standing in front of us. Both our heads were bowed against her anger. Gamma Maddox was nowhere to be seen after he made sure we got to the pack house.“You left school. Not telling anyone where you went. We get a message that you went off territory. We call you. You don’t answer. Then you text your dad that you’re going shopping? That’s it. No information about where you are going. Not how long you would be. Nothing.”Mrs. St James threw up her hands and paced, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I am dealing with people breaking into my home and you two decide to leave without any protection. Without anyone knowing where you were. What did you think would happen? What if those people was waiting
“You okay?”Gamma Maddox stood next to me while we waited for Krista to try on clothes. After the bomb that was dropped, we all sat in silence for a while until Krista decided that she needed more clothes. So, we followed her whim. He was now holding three bags of his own purchases, I had another bag from the doom, gloom, and sex store as Krista differentiated.“I mean, I thought Caleb dumped a lot on me last night. I knew some of it, but there were just small pieces that now fit. Then…you…” I sighed. “I feel like sometimes I’m being pulled every which way. My mother’s family was leadership. Her friends were leadership. Her boyfriend apparently was leadership. Caleb was leadership. His family leadership. It makes sense that I would also be tangled up in the leadership but this is just…a lot…”He shrugged, his usual self shinning through a little more as we shopped. “You were always
Embarrassment flooded through me. This was not the conversation I wanted to have with the person we were talking about. Krista didn’t seem to mind at all. She nodded, like it was fine we were talking about mates with our Gamma.“Do you know why she is feeling the way she is?”Gamma Maddox shook his head. “It could be a leadership thing. It could be her mate. Who knows. We won’t know until it stops.”“But you’re not…” I started, my face still red as a tomato.“No, Winter. I’m not.”He narrowed his eyes for a moment before I saw his demeanor change. Krista saw it too. She sat up straighter, pulling her leg in closer. I also perked up a little more. Gamma Maddox was our leadership. Usually, he was silly and goofy. The look on his face right now was serious. Serious Gamma was a rare occurrence and one that you listened to no matter what.“I had a mate. Back when
We continued to joke around until we made it into the city. It was far more crowded than any place in pack but it was a nice change. Sometimes, it was nice to get lost in a sea of humans. Krista continued to drive through the main downtown before reaching the mall that we preferred. It wasn’t the high end one in town but it was the biggest one.There was a restaurant across the street from the mall that we decided to stop and have brunch. I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese hash brown bowl whereas Krista got a whole breakfast platter. We ate talking about the plans we had for All Hallows Eve. There was going to be a whole pack festival but that usually ended before the parties started.Killing about an hour, we made our way into the mall. It was more lively at eleven than it seemed like had been was right when they opened. We made a circuit around the place, walking off our food, before we dove into shopping. I had a bank account in my name that received a deposit
Slamming my locker shut, I raised my eyebrow at Krista who had been leaning against the locker next to me. She had been staring at me for a few minutes while I swapped what was in my backpack. Her eyes narrowed and she leaned in. I was tempted to knock my forehead into hers but held off.“You seem…different.”“Different? You mean healed?” I chortled.Krista shook her head. “No. Dumbass. Just different. Like…you’re holding yourself different.”Shrugging, I glared down the hallway at Rebecca. She was walking down the hallway but she looked different. Her makeup was heavier than normal. Not that she was going for a dark smokey eye but she was definitely covering up some dark circles.She was ignoring everything around her as she walked down the hallway, which was incredible to witness. Her eyes caught mine and she sneered but passed me without even an insult. Blinking, I watched her leave before I turned back to Krista.“I mean…trainin
I was startled awake by my door opening. It didn’t slam but I knew better than to be asleep for movement in my room. Dad stood in the doorway and I sat up, blinking away the dream about collecting mushrooms in a forest I didn’t recognize. He didn’t look mad or upset, which was unusual.What he did look was tired. I hadn’t seen him for almost a week but it looked like he aged a few years. He stepped into my room but not very far. Leaning against desk that I had against the wall, Dad crossed his arms over his chest.“You want to tell me what happened?”My brow furrowed. “Didn’t you get told what happened?”“I want you to tell me, Winter. I don’t want three different stories telling me roughly the same thing.”I swallowed and looked down at the book that had fallen when I fell asleep. “From when…”“How did you get beaten so bad that you landed in the hospital?”“I…um…I fought Gamma Maddox.”He nodded. “Why?”“Becau